Good morning, Australia

Good morning, Australia

US share markets fell from record highs on Friday on
profit-taking. The session had a weaker tone after China threatened to
retaliate against a US law backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. There
was caution on retailers ahead of Black Friday sales. The Dow Jones index fell
almost 113 points or 0.4%. The S&P500 index fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq index
lost 40 points or 0.5%. Over the week the Dow rose by 0.7%, the S&P 500
rose 1.0% and the Nasdaq gained 1.7%. Over the month the Dow rose 3.7%, S&P
500 rose 3.4% and Nasdaq rose 4.5%.

US treasuries were mixed on Friday. US 2-year yields fell by
over 1 point to near 1.61% and US 10-year yields rose by 1 point to near 1.77%.
Over the week US 2-year yields fell by 2 points while US 10- year yields were
unchanged.

Bonjour Europe

European share markets fell on Friday in line with other
regional markets. Miners fell 1.4% on US-China trade concerns. Auto parts fell
by 1.1%. German unemployment fell by 16,000 in November with the jobless rate
unchanged at 5%, just up from the 4.9% record low. The pan-European STOXX600
index fell by 0.4%. The German Dax index lost 0.1%. The UK FTSE index fell by
0.9%. In London trade shares of Rio Tinto fell by 1.6% and BHP shares lost
2.0%.

Hello World!

Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in
European and US trade. The Euro rose from lows near US$1.0980 to highs near
US$1.1025 and was around US$1.1015 in late US trade. The Aussie dollar fell
from highs near US66.80 cents to lows near US67.53 cents and was near US67.65
cents in late US trade. The Japanese yen rose from 109.65 yen per US dollar to
JPY109.40 and was around JPY109.50 in afternoon US trade.

Global oil prices fell on profit-taking at the end of the
week and month and ahead of the OPEC meeting. Brent crude fell by US$1.44 or
2.3% to US$62.43 a barrel. And the US Nymex price fell by US$2.94 or 5.1% to
US$55.17 a barrel. Over the week Brent fell by 1.5% and Nymex lost 4.5%. Over
the month Brent rose 6% and Nymex rose 2.3%.

Base metal prices fell by up to 2.5% on the London Metal
Exchange on Friday with nickel down the most. But tin bucked the trend, rising
by 0.5% while aluminium rose by 1.6%. Over the week nickel, lead and zinc fell,
with nickel down 6.7%. Other metals rose by up to 2.3%, with aluminium up the
most. Nickel fell 18% in November - its biggest fall in eight years on
'faltering steel output from top producer China and waning impact from an
Indonesian ore export ban.'

The gold futures price rose by US$2.00 to US$1,465.60 an
ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,466 an ounce in late US trade. Over the
week gold rose by US$2.00 or 0.1% Iron ore fell by US50 cents or 0.6% to
US$87.25 a tonne. Over the week iron ore fell by US55 cents or 0.6%.

G’day Australia

In Australia, the Home Value index is released with Business Indicators, building approvals, job ads and the CBA and AiGroup manufacturing indexes. In China the Caixin manufacturing index is issued. In the US the ISM manufacturing index is released with construction spending.